ABSTRACT
The East German economy is socialist, which means simply that no significant economic activity may be privately owned. An underlying rationale for central economic ownership in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) is the perception that the nation is engaged in a vital struggle against hostile capitalist forces; in order to avert defeat, the nation’s scarce economic resources must be harnessed in a concerted effort. The GDR economy falls under the direction of the State Plan Commission, a very large national agency with subordinate offices in the counties and districts. The obligation of enterprises to operate within the plan has led observers to characterize the GDR economy as a “command” system. Economic questions dominate nearly every newspaper and political speech. The national economic plan embraces more than eight thousand industrial, agricultural, and plus numerous government agencies. Institutes engaged in training new economic managers found that much of their curriculum had become obsolete by the time students completed a course of study.
